Mac OSx – Openmtbmap Beginners Guide

In general I try to keep the installation on Mac OSx as simple as possible. And in general it's no more difficult compared to Windows. However some things might not be easy at the first time, so here comes an installation with screenshots for each step (mind I personally don't have a mac, so I took the screenshots from a remote computer running OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) and Basecamp v. 4.0.4.

This is a guide for Dummies, so it is quite long. You will actually find all of this very easy I hope and keep in mind, this guide is written for people who never used Garmin format maps on their Mac. If you have experience with other maps, You will only need to read through Step 1, Step 2 and Step 5. However you might find the general information at the end useful too.

If I talk about right-click, I mean secondary click. If you don't know how to do that on your Mac, google it up - you miss out on many features without it in general. In general it is done by CTRL & Click.

During the setup, the settings page should popup, tick: "7-zip Archvie" - as shown below.

during install, make sure that under "Extract archives to: Same folder as the archive" ---> Create a new folder for the extracted files:

either "Never" or "Only if there is more than one top-level item" is selected.

Then just doubleclick on the mtbCOUNTRY_macosx.7z (in this example mtbtawain_macosx.7z). It will be extracted as mtbtaiwan.gmap.

2. Step - Install the map:

Double Click on the unarchived download. It is called mtbCOUNTRY.gmap (COUNTRY standing for the country you downloaded).

Now you will see MapManager pop up. Click on the blue button to continue. You will see the mapname again

Usually, but not always, once installed MapManager will popup - here you can see the full name of the map (in this case openmtbmap_taiwan_11.01.2013) and on the right site the place where it is installed to - this place is /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Maps/mtbtaiwan (taiwan in our example, germany would be mtbgermany, and so on). If we click on an entry, and then rightclick, we could uninstall a map from here. Also we can open the installation directory for any map from here - which is very useful and needed later on.

If it doesn't pop up, installation should have been successful too. Here you can see all your installed maps, and if you want to remove a map, open MapManager, right click on the map, and Remove/Uninstall it.

3. Step: Use the map with Garmin Basecmap for Mac

When you startup Garmin Basecamp for Mac, it will show you the last installed map (or the map you last used Basecamp with). In our case - this is the map of Taiwan. Now you can zoom in and work with the map just like any other map. If it's your first time, best play around a bit and read the manual if you're unsure.

All maps support autorouting - I recommend you to use the "routing-function". It's the easiest and quickest way to create routes.

I recommend to set the profile to "Car" (German Auto) or "Bicycling" for best results - Read through here for understanding how the Openmtbmap works with Autorouting and which avoidances you should activate/deactivate.

- here you can see a quick sample route. After planning wit the Routing-Function, you can finetune the route using the Select Function and drag it around like on Google Maps.

If you want to switch between maps (this will only work if your have several maps installed) - make sure you got the MapSelector Tool in the Basecamp iconbar active, it is not active by default - here is how it looks - Globale Karte (third item from the left in the top list), you will have to get it from the toolbar menu with all items. I also recommend you to put the Routing-Function (here Routen-Funktion) from the very top right on the screenshot into your toolbuttons active all the time (I put it besides the map selector). You might also find the Track-Function very handy:

4. Step: Choose the layout of the Maps

The Openmtbmap currently comes with 6 different Map Layouts - unluckily this is not as easy to choose on Mac. But I tried to make the selection as easy as possible. Please read up which layout(s) best suit you here in the: Map Legend or on the Screenshots on Desktop or Screenshots from GPS

First - Open the installation folder. The place of installation you can find out with Garmin MapManager. It should be: /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Garmin/Maps/mtbtaiwan.gmap (taiwan in our example, germany would be mtbgermany, and so on) - You can do so by Opening Garmin MapManager, and clicking onto "Show in Finder" (here Im Finder anzeigen)

Then rightclick on the map (in this case mtbtaiwan.gmap): and choose "Show Package Content" - it should the third entry. In German on the example here it is "Paketinhalt zeigen".

Now the Map Package will open (note, that in principle any map package is just a simple folder, but Garmin MapManager makes you see it as a so called package - with Finder alternatives like MuCommander you can just open the map package, without right-click):

Here you see how the Mapinstallation folder looks like. In the "Layout Files" section - the different map layouts are saved. Open the folder Layout Files, then choose the desired Layout folder (e.g. Classic_Layout), go into it, and copy the typXX.TYP file. Go up again to the main folder (mtbtaiwan.gmap) and just paste it in, overwriting the old (in this case) typtw.TYP.

Here is a quick overview about the folders inside Layout_Files:

a) Two folders to enable/disable showing the contourlines. "Integrate Contourlines" with an Info.xml inside to enable the contourlines and "Remove_Contourlines with an Info.xml to disable the contourlines in the map. Just copy/paste the Info.xml from here to the main folder, i.e. mtbtaiwan.gmap and overwrite the Info.xml in there. by default the contourlines are active for all maps that have contourlines integrated and not in a separate download of course.

b) The map layout folders with a .TYP file inside.

Classic_Layout (typical openmtbmap layout - optimized for high contrast and lots of information),

Easy_Layout (easy openmtbmap layout for mtbiking - for those who prefer a cleaner easier to understand map compared to classic layout)

Hiking_Layout,

Thin_Layout (based on Classic but thinner lines),

Wide_Layout (based on Classic but wider lines and streets)

Dekstop_Layout - low contrast for working with Basecamp.

The Velomap has the following layouts right now:

Dekstop_Layout - low contrast for working with Basecamp

Velo_Layout (typical velomap layout - optimized for high contrast and lots of information),

So you copy the typXX.TYP and then paste it inot the main map folder - i.e mtbtaiwan.gmap, then you have the new layout activated. Note, you must no have Basecamp open at the same time, else the file is locked and cannot be overwritten!

Here I'm copying typtw.TYP from the Classic_Layout.

Now Going back up to "mtbtaiwan.gmap" (or mtbCOUNTRY.gmap) and pasting the .TYP

5. Step: Send the Map to your GPS using Garmin MapInstall

NOTE: on Old GPS all maps have to be sent at once. And can then be activated/deactivated via Menu on your GPS. (old GPS e.g. Vista HCx, GpsMaps 60 CSx). On new generation GPS (e.g. Dakota, Oregon, edge 800, GpsMaps 62, Montana), you can send the maps one at a time as you like.

Make sure you connected your Garmin, or put the memory card into a cardreader on your Mac (that is what I recommend on older devices - as they have very slow USB 1.1 connection so sending maps takes a long time). If not it will look like this - with the selector empty so you cannot continue:

So here we go:

We choose the region not by left clicking into it, but by dragging the mouse over the region we want - while holding the left mouse button (else you miss the contourlines)!

I selected a second map, by choosing another map on the MapSelector in the image above, and also choosing the region I want. Note that you shouldn't overload your GPS device with maps. I recommend max 2GB for old Garmin GPS, and 4-6 GB of Maps maximum for new generation Garmin GPS devices. Note also there is a limit of 2048 or 4096 maptiles depending on your GPS device. If you put too many maps onto it, then starting the device will be slow, and using the search function will be slow too.

Then I click on "Send Maps" (Karten senden) and MapInstall asks for Confirmation - showing me what will be installed - which we confirm again:

And we can go and have a coffe while the maps are sent (depends on the size of the map, how long it takes). Especially on older GPS - best send the maps to the micro-SD Card that you use with it, and put that micro-SD Card into a cardreader on your Mac, so it sends much faster (old Garmin GPS units only have USB 1.1)

Other issue I should mention: when installing an openmtb map on my Garmin 62s, when I disconnect from the USB and switch the device it on, it says “Cannot unlock Maps” although when I say “ok” it just works perfectly…

Hi Felix, thanks, I have deleted all maps and started all over and it works without being locked. However, the madagascar map is still going wrong (see also my message of hereunder). I downloaded it again and did the whole procedure again and still the same problem subsists. The name of the file is still like this (first download was on 11/10) as seen on the image here attached. And when trying to install on the Garmin, the message “there is a problem…” still pops-up. Do you know what is the problem? Thanks Eric

africa is the right contour lines for Africa continent map. For Madagascar you would accordingly need Madagascar contours. The date is correct – 11. October 2013 – what should be wrong about it? Maps are updated once weekly – usually Thursday/Friday.

Thanks for your site, magnificent! Nevertheless I have a problem when installing the map for Madagascar on my Garmin GPSMAP 62s (not the case with other maps) see attached image. I uninstalled the map and tried again but problem keeps appearing — in Basecamp the map is installed properly.

Hello, I am trying since half a day to get the europe map installed on my macbook. I downloaded: mtbeurope.gmap, (947MB) mtbeurope_contours (1,38GB) mtbeuropefile.7z (5,26GB) I followed unpacking and I can start the mtbeurope.gmap The Mapinstaller starts and i can select the map to install. After installation, there are no files in the Proiduct1 folder of the installed map-route

How do I link the mtbeuropefile.7z with the installer. In the description, there is nothing mentioned what to do with this file.

Thanks for the tutorial. I’ve gont through all steps using MapInstall to install the map of Norway on my Garmin Edge 800. It looks like it works fine, but when I try to find the map on the device I can only see the previously installed Garmin Benelux map…Am I missing something here? Hope someone can help!

Have a look at the SD-card/memory of your edge 800 – maps should be installed to /garmin folder. Only the latest transferred map will be shown. You need to open the /garmin folder, rename the gmapsupp.img to say norway.img and then transfer the next map – and rename again…